Bookworms | ✔

twenty-three

Nicholas sat on the edge of Humaid's bed, wondering how such a man could be perfect in everything. Humaid's lips moved smoothly as he recited the words from the Muslim holy book, the Qur'an. Something in Nicholas's heart moved, his mind mesmerized by the effortless pronunciation of the Arabic letters.

The sound was soothing like a soft lullaby that God had sent down to comfort lost souls. There was something different about the Muslims, something peaceful, something alluring. He wasn't sure what it was yet, but as he heard Humaid prolong a certain vowel, he completely forgot.

Once Humaid finished his recitation, without even looking at the book because he had it memorized, Nicholas couldn't stop his curiosity.

"How did you learn to recite like that? It was like you were singing to me."

"It's not singing," chuckled Humaid. "It's like a spoken word, a piece of poetry. Once you learn the meaning of the words, it's like a gateway to another dimension. The poetic verse is enough to shake any soul."

Nicholas tilted his head. "How? Wouldn't that be the argument for all religious texts? What makes the Qur'an special?"

Haroon quietly closed his book, sitting upright on the bed across from Nicholas and Humaid. His light brown eyes examined Nicholas's facial expression, trying to figure him out, before his lips broke into a grin.

"Glad, you asked," said Haroon as he stood up, holding his giant biology textbook in his hand. "I assume you're a science only type of guy, yes?"

He nodded; noticing the wide smile on Humaid's face as he eagerly listened to his twin.

"Well, the verses that Humaid recited actually have a lot to do with science."

At this, Nicholas furrowed his eyebrows. How could something so old know anything about science?

Haroon noticed the confusion swirling within the oceanic depths of Nicholas's eyes. "In the last verse that Humaid recited, Allah was telling mankind about pregnancy. In Surah Az-Zumar, verse six, Allah specifically mentions that He put us in our mother's wombs covered by three layers of darkness."

"Which are?" asked Nicholas.

Haroon opened up his biology textbook, flipping through the pages. His light colored eyes eagerly skimmed through the words, black wavy hair falling over his eyes; until he finally found the image he was searching for and pointed towards it.

Nicholas was astonished, for Haroon was correct.

There, right before his eyes, was an image of a fetus, clinging onto the mother's womb. Three layers were around the child, the vaginal wall, the uterine wall, and the amniochorionic wall. Those were the three veils of darkness that protected the child from exterior forces.

"If you don't believe me, check Professor Keith Moore's studies on the three interior walls that protect the womb," said Haroon, a twinkle to his brown eyes from knowing that he was right.

Nicholas wouldn't give in that fast. "The Arabs in the seventh century were extremely talented in medicine and science. They could have just experimented," he argued, crossing his arms over his chest.

Humaid smiled. "Why do you think they started the experiments then? The push from their holy book helped them develop astronomy, chemistry, and medicine. Besides, the veils of darkness were only proven recently."

"Couldn't that have been a coincidence that they got through deduction?" questioned Nicholas, suspicious. He wasn't sure, but science was complex. A book alone could not confirm such in depth reasoning to experiments that took years to perfect.

Humaid brightened, opening his Qur'an that sat on the desk beside them. He began to recite another couple of verses.

Once again, an odd feeling of comfort overtook his senses, making Nicholas surrender to the soothing sound of poetic words in another language. He unconsciously moved closer, eager to hear more, to lose himself in the soft sounds of humble recitation.

Nicholas had never felt spirituality; he never believed in it, yet as he sat on their bed, unknowingly memorizing the bits and pieces of the words and their formations, he realized a stirring within his chest. He shook it off when Humaid stopped.

"That was from Surah Al-Mumenoon, verses twelve through fourteen," he stated as his fingers gently traced the Arabic letters. "Here, Allah begins to tell mankind about fertilization of the egg cell."

Haroon nodded in agreement. "He claims that man is created from sulalah, which means the essence of clay. With that statement out, mankind can infer that the body is created from organic and inorganic substances like clay. It's metaphorical."

"In verse thirteen, Allah mentions that we came from a seed, the sperm cell, which rested in the mother's body. The resting place is the sperm cell coming into contact with the egg cell," continued Humaid as he exchanged a glance with Haroon, who simply pulled the beanie tighter against his head, shivering from the cold. "Anyway, in verse fourteen, Allah really explains everything."

"What do you mean? So far it sounds like a stretch," commented Nicholas, unwilling to let go of all the facts he spent years studying.

The twins slyly smiled, a cocky look flashed in Humaid's eyes before his older counterpart elbowed him. "Be nice," warned Haroon.

Chuckling, Humaid continued. "Basically, the seed is made into a clot, which forms a lump of flesh. Then, Allah says that the unborn child is clothed in bones with flesh before it grows into another creation."

Nicholas felt his jaw drop. "He said all that?" he asked, incredulously.

"Yeah," grinned Haroon, showing Nicholas the diagram of fetus development in his textbook. "This knowledge was known to the Muslims in the seventh century, which science only recently proves."

His mind was melting from the new information. That couldn't be possible, surely someone modern person changed the holy texts. Every holy book had been altered at one point. Perhaps the Qur'an faced the same fate at one point in history, however, with the in depth detail that the Younes twins emphasized made him double guess himself.

I'm being unreasonable. I'm sure if I search it online tonight there will be various different translations. There had to be.

----
Mr. Zemel is literally making me write an in-class essay a day AFTER BREAK. BOI!

I hope I didn't offend anyone, but the book is in 'Spiritual' for a reason. What do you think Nick's reaction would be when he searches it?

Anyway, don't forget to vote, comment, and follow!